Hail Damage Repair Access: How do we access the back side of hail damage dents to push them out with our tools?
Jack Bucknell with Sioux Falls Dent Repair shows you how we access areas on this 2010 Subaru for us to make hail damage repairs.We already took the door panels off, as well as the glass assemblies and all the necessary trim has been removed in order to gain access to this area of the tops of the door assemblies on the left passenger side.
This vehicle had hail damage and we had to access the damage from the backside in order to push this damage out. Even though access on this damage is not terrible we still do have to use the glue pull method in order to remove all of these dents. We use an Elmident Glue Gun fitted with a Dewalt battery for our glue supply. We use Hawg Glue from Anson PDR to glue our tabs to the vehicle to remove dents. We then use a combination of glue tabs from Black Plague PDR and Keco to do the pulling. To pull the tabs once they are glued on we use a slide hammer or a mini lifter available from multiple PDR suppliers, the ones we use are available from A-1 PDR Tools.
We then talk about access to other areas of the vehicle. Subaru’s are well known for having a high safety crash test ratings. How they go about doing this especially in the doors and side impact areas is those areas are heavily braced with internal bracing that you won’t see until you take the vehicle apart and inspect the structure. We show you a good example of how this bracing looks and how it can effect the dent repair process.
This is the Crease Dent Repair killer setup from Keco Body Repair Products. This consists of their Robo Lifters, specialized feet for the Robo Lifter paired with their crease glue tabs. For the first time we were able to try out Cam Auto Glue for Paintless Dent Repair. This glue has a slightly slower dry time compared to our traditional glues but man does it pull some strong damage out, all of this setup combine together
Here we used their setup to pull on this practice hood. This hood was undamaged and completely flat when we started, after seeing a demonstration on the setup from Gene at Keco we had to try it out. He setup up the system right next to a spot he had just done prior. We did some pulling and we could not believe the results. You can see the high spots or as he jokes about in the video, body lines we actually put in these panels.
Their power is truly amazing.
You can purchase this system and much more of their fantastic tools from: https://www.kecotabs.com
We had a chance to chat with Gene Fetty with KECO Body Repair Products and learn about one of their newest products at the 2019 Mobile Tech Expo in Las Vegas!
This is called The Ergo Power Grip. This tool simply attaches to your adjustable handle tools and allows you to multiply your pushing power.
You can use it with a twisting motion, often used when repairing door dents and dings. The handle is completely adjustable allowing you to use it in many configurations.
You can also use to push from the sides of vehicles, this would be very common in panels such as the quarter panels or fenders in certain angles. You can even use it to multiply your pushing power through a wiring harness hole like shown in the video with Crystal at Push Metal Gear.
Also when repairing flat panels, say a hood for instance you can instantly multiply your pushing force. This puts less stress on your body and allows you to make even more precise pushes more comfortably.
We had a chance to talk with Dave Streen with Edgy Tools at the Mobile Tech Expo. We talk about some of his latest tools and how to go about using them.
If you have not seen or used these before they are all must haves for any professional dent repair technician.
First off he highlights his revolutionary No Roll Knockdown. Like the name suggests, it won’t roll. You can simply lay it on any surface and unlike other traditional knockdowns it will not roll away. Lay it on a hood, roof, any top panel, even on glass and it will not roll away. Combine that with essentially 4 KNOCKDOWNS IN ONE! Each tip starts off as a polished metal tip on each end. Follow this up by installing his caps on them and you can customize your tips to your liking. Do you want to switch your style of knockdown? Simply remove the cap and install another style cap or leave the mirror polished tip. Simple, fast and effective.
For Knockdown tips his most popular is the Pirate Peg Leg. This is one of our personal favorites we even picked up an extra tip to have around the shop just in case. This tip has been featured in multiple dent competitions and even resulting with this tool helping techs WIN these world recognized competitions. Shortly after this interview the technician who was mentioned took home the 2nd place trophy for the first ever PDR Dent Trials.
Next Dave discuses with us his blending hammer head style tips. The Polished Knob and The Knockers blending hammer tips. I have no idea the kind of witch craft that went specifically into The Knockers tip but it is revolutionary and was heavily talked about by all of the top guys at the 2019 PDR College Advanced Skills Seminar. Not only does Dave love this tips but so do his techs!
The newest thing to be highlighted by Edgy Tools was the release of their very own glue tabs. These glue tabs may look like many others but just like golf balls, they all look the same but all perform different. Be sure to try these new tabs out!
The finger ding ring was the next to be talked about. No longer are you chasing around your knockdown because its always on your finger. This is specifically highlighted as being great when working on box sides of trucks. You’re laying on the ground working away and no longer are you having to shift and get out of your position to find your knockdown on the ground, its simply on your finger ready to go.
Next he highlights his tire tower. This is the Tool you didn’t know you needed! If you have been doing dent repair for any amount of time there always comes a point in time where you decide to use your hand as a leverage point and not only that but you specifically pry off of your hand with it resting between your tool and a tire. This is quick to get you a very mediocre push and put extreme stress on not only your hand but also create issues with your tool not having a solid point to leverage off of.
You no longer need to do this, with the invention of the revolutionary tire tower and its newly released handle created by Danial Gromm (The motorcycle PDR King) your hand and body will rest easy knowing you are getting a better push on dents without any stress on your body, after all your hands are your key to doing paintless dent repair, why would you jeopardize their health with poor pushing also resulting in a poor repair.
For more information on any of these tools and many more tools sold by Edgy Tools visit their website: https://www.edgytools.com
The 2019 Jeep Wrangler features some big changes from the existing models.
First off it has for the first time ever has aluminum doors, a plastic cowl, aluminum windshield post and aluminum hood. Now while these may not seem like big issues for the new Jeep Wrangler but it does create new challenges.
The added use of multiple aluminum panels makes repairing dents much more difficult. Many folks think that aluminum is very weak and easily dented. This is probably from the common thought of a pop or soda can being so easy to simply squeeze and crush. The aluminum on vehicles is much thicker and ranges in strengths. A study done by NAPDRT, short for the National Association of Paintless Dent Repair Technicians and multiple Insurance Companies found that aluminum easily takes double the amount of force to dent as appose to traditional Mild Steel. Repairing the same damage takes over twice as much force as well as a different selection of tools to push specifically on aluminum.
JEEP Wrangler Hail Damage
The plastic cowl is the biggest noted change. These vehicles specifically use to suffer from a very notorious “Jeep” dent. See an example of a Jeep Cowl Dent we repaired: CLICK HERE
With this panel now being plastic they will no longer be dented like the previous models!
The Jeep Wrangler challenges to dent repair technicians is nothing new, these types of metal changes and moving to plastic will only continue. With standards in the automotive industry raising the bar in safety as well as fuel efficiency, aluminum and plastic will only continue to grow in its usage in the automotive industry.
